It was a double NW3 weekend to end our nose work season for the year. Mom always thought it would be great to have two dogs entered, one each day, in an NW3, but normally they have long waitlists and she has to choose just one dog. This trial didn’t fill, so Bailie got to run Saturday, and I got to run on Sunday. Each day has totally different searches, so there is no cheating.
Saturday was Halloween, so Bailie, Purple Girl, brought along her witches hat for a photo. This was a big trial for her since she had the disaster in August and Mom decided not to compete with her anymore. They went to a lesson in September to try go get Bailie motivated. Bailie and Mom worked daily for six weeks and at home, she was motivated. If she was motivated at this trial, then she would continue to do nose work, if not, then no more nose work.
Bailie had a rock star day! She was on her game starting with her first search. Mom says she was searching like Olivia, and she has never seen Bailie so happy and amazing at searching. The problem was Mom. She wasn’t ready for that version of Bailie and she made many, many errors. Bailie checked her scores in the results the next day and found out she actually placed seventh in her interior search! It was a winner of a weekend for Bailie, even though Mom ruined any chances of a title, but still it is super exciting to hear how well it went! They are excited to continue training and enter trials next year.
My performance was pretty good except for containers. I have ruined most of my trials this fall with messing up on containers and this trial was no exception. I will be working hard on that element over the break to get myself back on track. I had a blast at my trial, Mom had herself pulled together and didn’t make mistakes, plus she supported me and my decisions. On the bright side, I did earn my NW3-E which is the exterior element title. I needed to pass exteriors three times to earn it. Funny thing is that I passed exteriors for the first time in the same location in my first NW3 trial! It was a perfect ending to the double NW3 weekend.
Thoughts from a double NW3 weekend?
- Mom says it’s hard to run two days at the same location with the same certifying official because thoughts of day one influence thoughts on day two, but it was fun.
- Bailie was the top dog of the weekend missing only one hide all day, but was taken down by her partner, aka, Mom.
- The goals for Bailie were reached and surpassed, so she will be searching in trials again next year.
- Mom was the winner on Sunday, being a pretty good handler, following her gut and letting me work.
- I got one more element title.